On sports media.

Fox gets `real game' it wanted

That's the all-time low television rating for last year's All-Star Game in Milwaukee. That's why tradition is being suspended for this year's game at U.S. Cellular Field.

One ratings point is worth just over 1 million homes, which means only about 10 million people watched last year's game. If the audience had remained at the level of the days when the game was considered the Midsummer Classic, nothing else but league pride would be on the line Tuesday. That used to be enough.

Obviously, the All-Star Game needs a jolt. Enter Fox.

The network isn't shy about acknowledging that it lobbied to have this year's game mean something. If baseball purists like Bob Costas, a major critic of the setup, think this is a made-for-television production, well, it is, and Fox isn't going to apologize.

"There's a mentality that television contracts control everything in sports," Fox Sports President Ed Goren said. "That's not the case. But after signing billion-dollar deals, adjustments are made. Why else would the NCAA have the title game [for basketball] starting at 9 p.m. [on the East Coast]? We don't get everything we want. All we can ask for is a voice."

Fox play-by-play voice Joe Buck treasures baseball's traditions--he's the son of Hall of Fame announcer Jack Buck. Joe Buck, who will call the game for Fox, was asked if something as important as home-field advantage in the World Series should be altered because of poor ratings in the All-Star Game.

"That's a fair question," Buck said. "The key to me is that we're replacing something that is pretty arbitrary (home-field advantage had rotated from year to year). This has more weight. To me this is kind of sitting there. If you have a chance to enhance the All-Star Game, you have to take the opportunity. In this day and age, you can't be cemented in your purist beliefs."

The other numbers tell the complete story. During the last 15 minutes of the last five All-Star Games, the ratings were 32 percent lower than the average. In contrast, the ratings for the last 15 minutes were 25 percent higher during World Series games.

Goren is hoping baseball fans will care to the point of a 10 percent increase in the rating for Tuesday's game. If the advertising community is any indication, Fox will reach its goal. Goren said ads for the game sold briskly, something that might not have happened under the traditional format.

Fox will go with a conventional broadcast. It will have its usual bells and whistles, but there won't be any in-game discussions with the managers as there were last year.

Fox is going to treat it like a real game, because it is a real game.

"In years past, it was more of a Monty Hall type of effort," Buck said. "You were trying to figure out what was behind doors 1 through 32 as opposed to doing a ballgame. It felt more like doing an old-timer's game."

Analyst Tim McCarver expects starters to play deeper into the game. Indeed, the lack of interest in the All-Star Game can be traced to who was on the field in the final innings last year--Milwaukee's Jose Hernandez got four at-bats. Little wonder the ratings plunged.

That's not how it used to be. When McCarver played in his first All-Star Game in 1966, Brooks Robinson played the entire game, and starting catcher Joe Torre went eight innings.

Let's remember Pete Rose was still playing in the 12th inning when he barreled over Ray Fosse to win the 1970 All-Star Game for the NL. He would have been long gone from last year's game.

"I'd expect to see a guy like Alex Rodriguez get two, maybe three at-bats," McCarver said. "You're still dealing with All-Star players, but All-Stars are not all stars. There's going to be a push to get players deeper in the game."

Everyone at Fox is hoping for a cliffhanger that attracts a huge audience that builds as the game goes on. It would validate the push to have the game really mean something.

"Hopefully, everyone will look back and say it was a great game," Goren said. "From a TV side, if the ratings increase, and especially if we hold onto the audience, it will make Wednesday a fun day."

Then again, the way baseball's luck is going, the game will be called a tie at 2-2 after 18 innings because both teams ran out of pitchers. Then what happens?

"If it ends in a tie, Bob Costas can decide who gets home-field advantage in the World Series," Goren said.

The wrap-up: Melissa Stark has joined NBC. The former sideline reporter for ABC's "Monday Night Football" will be a national correspondent for "Today," and also will contribute to NBC Sports.